


Branded On My Heart

by ardentaislinn



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-11
Updated: 2014-04-11
Packaged: 2018-01-18 23:52:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1447561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ardentaislinn/pseuds/ardentaislinn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on a prompt by miscalainaeous: During the year that they were away from Storybrooke, Hook kept his promise to think of Emma everyday. And in those thoughts, he began to realize that he probably had lost his second true love. One drunken evening, he decides to give Emma a tribute like he did for Milah — with a tattoo. Now back in Storybrooke and Emma still not falling for him, he has to hide this ill timed mistake. But one day she sees it… And he has to explain…</p>
            </blockquote>





	Branded On My Heart

Six months after he’d last seen Emma, Killian reached his lowest ebb. He was a little drunk and a lot lonely, but he couldn’t bring himself to partake of any of his usual distractions. In fact, he’d been unable to lose himself in piracy or women since he met the Saviour. Even rum only had a small amount of the attraction it had once held.

The worst thing about being away from Emma was that he didn’t just feel that he’d lost _her_. He felt like he’d lost _himself_ – the man that he was when he was with her.

So, the next time he had found himself in an anonymous portside town, feeling melancholy and a little bitter, Killian got a tattoo. _Emma_ , written right over his heart. He made them add some fancy design work, too, but the real message was her name, scrawled where he would never forget it.

Not that he could, of course. He would never forget her, and he knew that with every fibre of his being. But the tattoo would serve as a reminder: a reminder never to forget _himself_. The man Emma had made him; a man he was proud to be. Even if he had to spend the rest of his life without her, he still wanted to be the man that she saw in him, the man she believed he could be.

So, whenever he felt the blackness of despair creeping over his soul, he would place a hand to his heart and imagine that he could feel her name etched there. A remembrance of the past, and a hope for the future.

`

Once he was back in her presence, Killian needed the reminder so rarely that he almost forgot it was there.

It was summer. The witch had been defeated, and the lives of the citizens of Storybrooke had largely returned to normal. More’s the pity, since normal for him meant Emma was busy keeping him on the wrong side of the wall that surrounded her heart. He was managing to take it down, brick by brick, but Emma was stubborn and it was rather a slow process. Worth it, of course, but occasionally frustrating.

This particular day was unusually hot. Given that few people ever came to visit him on his boat – formally Grumpy’s – he felt safe in working sans shirt. Which proved to be rather awkward when Emma dropped by unexpectedly.

“Swan,” he tried to greet her calmly while looking frantically for his shirt, feeling sweaty, unkempt and unequal for the company of this particular woman. He couldn’t find his apparel, so changed strategies and folded his arms across his bare chest and leaned his hip against the railing, pretending composure he didn’t feel. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Um…,” said Emma eloquently, and Killian couldn’t help a slight grin of satisfaction when he saw that she was staring at his torso with almost _hungry_ eyes. If he had known this was all it would take for her to throw her off guard and peek from behind those walls, he might have tried this tactic long ago.

She blinked, and disappointment settled over him as he saw her shoulders straighten and the shutters come down over her eyes.

“Henry’s been asking about you. He wanted to go sailing with you again tomorrow.” She jumped down onto the deck, causing the boat to rock slightly.

“Of course,” he replied without hesitation.

“Good, because…,” she stopped, her eyes riveted to his chest once again. Killian allowed himself a moment to feel smug before he realised just how still she was.

“Emma?” he asked.

“What…what is that?” she asked, pointing. Killian glanced down to where her finger was indicating and finally understood.

“It’s a tattoo,” he said with more heat than he intended, feeling far more naked than when she had caught him simply without his shirt.

“It’s my name,” she said unnecessarily.

“I’m aware. I asked for it, after all.”

“Why?” She still hadn’t taken her eyes off the mark and Killian began to hunt in earnest for his missing clothes.

“A reminder,” he muttered, finally finding the discarded garment tucked behind a crate.

“A reminder of me?” he voice was small, soft and vulnerable. He pulled the material over his head and looked at her. Killian could see about a thousand emotions flickering across her beautiful features: gratitude, suspicion, awe, and pain among them.

“Certainly, in part. But also a reminder of me.”

She stepped forward, her hand outstretched. Her fingers brushed the fabric of his shirt.

“What do you mean?” she asked softly.

“I didn’t want to forget the man you brought out in me.”

“It meant that much to you?” her question was replete with emotion. She stepped forward and her palm pressed against the tattoo.

“Oh, yes,” he told her in a low voice, his hand settling over hers. “Everything we did, everything we shared, everything we went through together, meant more to me than the whole three hundred years preceding it did. I didn’t want to forget a moment.”

“Oh,” she said on a soft sigh. She stepped even closer. “So, you missed me?” she asked, clearly trying for teasing, but landing somewhere nearer vulnerable instead.

“Every day,” he replied, closing more of the gap between them.

“And you thought about me?” Her voice was so soft he could barely hear it. Her eyes drifted to his lips.

“Always,” he murmured, bending his head to hers. Their fingers entangled together over her name branded on his heart.

He captured the resulting smile with his lips. A hope for the future indeed.


End file.
